Woven-in knife for pile-fabric looms



v T. BACHOFENL WOVEN IN KNIFE FOR PILE FABRIC LOONIS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. I2, 1921.

Patented June 6, 1922..

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woven-11v KNIFE son lILE-FABRIGLOOMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 6, 11922.

Application filed November 12, 1921. Serial No. 514,434.

,Knives for Pile-Fabric Looms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates specifically to improvements in the manufacture of cut pile fabrics consisting of a base portion com-v posed of relatively fine but firm warp and weft threads overlaid with a loosely twisted weft or filler so engaged as to present relatively narrow stripes, interwoven into the base and intermediate unconfined stripes, their threads (being adapted, when severed, to expand so that the filaments or fibers present a thick downy nap, constituting a pile surface resembling corduroy velvet.

The principal purpose of the invention is to provide means for cutting-these loose or fioatingly confined filler threads simultaneously, during the weaving of the fabric,

adjacent the lathe of the loom, the process of weaving tending to condense the fabric so that the loosely laid filaments of the filler are free and slightly raised from the base portion.

Another object is in the provision of means for securing the weft slitting knives in such manner as to permit the ready removal of any individual blade without distunbing the remaining cutters or damaging the tensioning means by which the knives are held in operative position, means also being provided for maintaining a definite spaced relation between the knives.

Further objects are, to produce a series of knives essentially simple and cheap to manufacture, easy to sharpen, and which may be removed or app-lied as a unit with reference to the loom.

These and analogous objects are attained by the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and shown in the accompanying drawing, forming a material part of this disclosure, and in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view showing a partial section of a conventional type of loom, together with an application of the invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view showing a series of the knives and their supports relative to the falbric on which they operate.

F gure 3 is a side view of the same, the fabric threads being magnified and the knife shown as in operatlon in full lines, the knife being also shown inbroken lines indicating the manner in which it is released from its support.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmental front and sect onal .view, the section being taken substantially on line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 1s a side elevational view of the knife and lts anchor wire.

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the same.

In Figure 1 of the drawing, a plurality of parallel warp threads, generally designated by the numeral 20, are initially wound upon a supply drum (not shown), known as a yarn or warp beam and pass over a roll 21, the woven fabric 22 being passed, as woven, over the breast 23 and wound upon a take-up roll 24, called a cloth beam, at the breast or front of the machine.

The warp beam has a friction drag on it (not shown), maintaining the warp threads cloth beam which draws the warp threads through the loom, including the heddles of the harness 25 and dents of the reed 26.

Due to the action of a mechanical device, the harnesses are definitely controlled to raise certain of the warp threads and lower others, producing spaces between them, known as the shed, through which shuttles as 27 pass, carrying the weft of filling threads 30.and disposing them transversely between predetermined threads of the warp.

After each passage of the shuttle, the reed 26 is moved reciprocatively, the reed wires or dents beating up the filler at each stroke and the fabric thus formed is advanced a definite distance or fraction of an inch, this movement establishing the picks per inch or mesh of the fabric.

All these elements are old, well known in 'the art, and form no part of the present in- The distance between adjacent stripesmade by the binder warp threads 20 is equal to twice the length of the pile of the fabric and the filler threads 30, while firmly held by the binder warp threads at their intersection, are unconfined between the stripes thus formed, this condition being accentuated due to a certain uniform contraction of the fabric as it is woven.

The invention includes a knife for cutting the threads between each of the binding stripes and means for supporting the knives relative to the looln and fabric.

Each. knife consists of a thin fiat sheet steel plate having an essentially oblong rectangular body 35, one end projecting at an angle of approximately forty-five degrees with the longer or base edge and bevelled on both sides to produce a keen edge 36.

Formed to extend transversely into the knife body, from its base edge, are open recesses 37 and 38, at points respectively near the blade 36 and rear of the knife, the forward slot 37 being engageable with a rod 39 and the recess 38 with a similar rod 40, both being disposed transversely over that part of the base portion of the fabric immediately back of the breast 23.

The rod 39 is entirely free and unsupported except for links 41 at its ends which engage the rod 40, this latter rod being held parallel to the breast 23 by supports 42 attached to some fixed part of the loom in any convenient manner.

Encircling the rod 40 are space rings or collars 43 intervening between the knives 35 and adapted to maintain them distanced apart in accordance with the space between the stripes, either at the center of the loop formed by the floating filaments 30' or to one side as may be preferred, all of the several knives and spacers being lightly clamped upon the rod 40 by means of thumb nuts 44 screw threaded upon its extending ends.

Extending from the lower edge of each knife, in advance of the blade 36, is a thin and narrow tongue 45, slightly wider than the body of the knife, having a curved 'or bevelled front edge and containing an eye or opening 46, the bottom of the tongue and lower edge of the knife being in the same plane.

The eye 46 is adapted to have passed through it a single thin wire 47, the same entering from the to of the tongue and continuing after passlng through the eye, below the knife, as at 47 to some distance beyond it.

he opposite end 47 of the Wire extends rearwardly of the loom, through a heddle carried by the harness 48, thence between aeiaaie sever the same as the fabric is advanced.

It will be understood that due to the fiexible manner in which the knives are supported, the cutting edges and wiires are raised and lowered in synchronism with the warp sheds as formed to permit unobstructed passage of the shuttles and that the beat of the reed forces the filler against the cutting edges as each pick or strand is laid.

It is to be noted that a single. wire for each knife only is used, which tends to economy, not only in construction, but minimizes friction and consequent wear of the reed dents and harness wires through which the wire passes.

The construction also provides for ready removal of any individual knife for resharpening or other purposes, it being merely necessary to raise the desired knife and unthread the wire engaging it in an obvious manner, no injury to the wire being done and no disturbance of the remaining knives taking lace.

The fdregoing disclosure is to be regarded as descriptive and illustrative only, and not as restrictive or limitative of the invention, of which obviously an embodiment may be constructed including many modifications without departing from the general scope Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a device of the class described, the combination with a knife blade having a tongue extending in front of the cutting edge, of a wire disposed substantially in the plane of said blade, said wire being bent angularly to pass through an opening in said tongue and then extend adjacently outward beyond the lower edge of said blade, said knife blade being disposed between the breast of a loom and the reed thereof.

2. A pile wire and a cutter comprising a single strand of flexible wire adapted to pass through the interstices of a loom reed and between the heddles thereof, anoffset formed in said wire, a knife blade, and a erforate tongue formed with said blade, the perforation in said tongue being receptive of said offset and the continuation of said Wire extending below said knife blade.

3. A knife for cutting the pile of fabric as woven, said knife comprising a thin fiat plate having an extending angular cutting edge formed at an angle of approximately taining slots open at the bottom, a single strand of wire attached to said plate in advance of the cutting edge thereof, said wire being interwoven in the fabric, and means for tensioning said wire.

4. A knife for cutting a pile fabric as Woven, said knife comprising athin flat plate having a cutting edge formed approximately thirty degrees with its lower edge, a tongue projecting beyond said cutting edge in the plane of the bottom of said plate, said tongue having a vertical eye, a wire disposed among the warp threads of the fabric under the filling pile to be cut, said wire being passed through the mentioned eye, sharply bent to extend below said plate, and a tensioning means on the opposite end of said wire.

5. A knife for cutting the pile of fabrics as woven in a loom, comprising a flat plate having an angular advance edge at one end, said knife containing slots extending inward from its lower edge to engage over supports, and a single wire attached to said plate at its forward end, said wire affording means for controlling the inclination of the knife and stressing the same upon its supports.

6. A pile cutting attachment for looms including frame, harness, reed and shuttle, comprlsing a plurality of thin flat knives having angular projecting blades and containing spaced open slots, independent wires removably engaging each of said knives, said wires extending rearwardly through said reed and harness, a tensioning means for each wire, means for raising and lowering said wires relative to the action of said harness, and supports on which said blades are mounted, said supports being adjacent said reed when at its extreme forward movement.

7. A pile cutting attachment for looms comprising a plurality of thin flat knives having angularly extending blades, and containing open slots extending in from their lower edges a perforate tongue in advance of each blade, support rods engageable in the mentioned slots in said knives, means on said rods for spacing the knives, and independent tensioning means for said knives, said tensioning means consisting of single strands of wire extending from the rear of the loom adjacent the warp threads of the fabrics, under the pile weft to be cut, through the perforation in said tongue and to a point beyond the knife.

8. A pile cutting attachment for looms comprising a plurality of cutter blades, pile wires removably engaging said blades, said wires extending below and beyond the blades, a pair of transverse rods on which said blades are mounted, means on one of said rods for spacing the blades, and means for manually clamping said blades in lateral relation.

In witness whereof I have signed my name to this application.

THEODOR; BACHOFEN. 

